Ramsey police seek witnesses to jewelry heist

Ramsey — Not since the mid-1990s has a robbery taken place in the borough that involved tying up victims and holding them at gunpoint, Police Chief Bryan Gurney said four days into investigating such a heist last week.

At 11:22 a.m. Monday, March 3, a man dressed in a suit who identified himself as an FBI agent and another dressed in a blue hazmat-style jumpsuit robbed Aydin Jewelry at 885 Route 17 south, stealing an undetermined amount of merchandise, Gurney said Friday, March 7.

When the men entered the jewelry shop, which is neighbored by Buono Bagels in the Lincoln Plaza strip mall, they told the owner they were investigating a "meth lab," Gurney said.

The FBI charade was quickly dropped, however, and "the owner knew something was up because they weren't cooking meth," he said.

The heavy-set man with a beard and wearing a dark winter jacket, dark shirt and red tie pointed his gun at the owner's mother and brought her and her two sons to back rooms where they were handcuffed with zip ties, Gurney said. He stayed in the room while the man in the blue jumpsuit, who had a smaller build, looted the safe and several display cases, he said.

Pictures of 109 of the items taken from Aydin Jewelry were released by the police department on Friday, March 7.

The list was only partial and the items' values had not been determined, Gurney said.

Surveillance footage also revealed a dark-colored Audi in the Lincoln Plaza shopping center at the same time the jewelry store was robbed, he said.

"I cannot talk to you right now. We are still shaken," said a man who identified himself as the owner of the jewelry store on Friday, March 7.

He said he was meeting with police that morning.

Gurney said his department was working with the FBI and Bergen County Sheriff's Office's Bureau of Criminal Investigations.

Gurney released dozens of photos captured by the jewelry store's surveillance cameras showing the two men wearing respirator masks and goggles. The man in the jumpsuit also had a rolling backpack.

The footage also revealed that as the robbers entered the store, a man and woman were seen running east in the parking lot, directly past the robbers.

The woman appears to be carrying a black purse, wearing blue jeans and dark jacket. The man appears to be wearing a dark coat, khaki pants and a wool hat, Gurney said.

"We're thinking possibly [the alleged robbers] might've told these people to leave the area because of an environmental hazard," he said.

The two men fled west on foot, toward a nearby buffet restaurant, the same way they entered the shopping center, he said.

"We're just trying to get more images out there to see if anyone who might have been at Lincoln Plaza at the time can come forward," Gurney said.

"If someone was in the parking lot or nearby, if they saw anything at all, even if they think it's insignificant, we're urging them to please let us know."

The last robbery of this type happened nearly 20 years ago, when a group robbed a local store at night, "tying all the night employees up," Gurney said.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Ramsey Police at 201-327-2400.